Beckett the Spiritist

Abstract

Abstract Most of the critical attention devoted to Breath has been focused on its adaptations and the affinities between its theatrical realization and the visual arts. Tracing Beckett’s ambivalent attitude towards the staging of the play, this article offers a closer analysis of Breath as a textual artefact. It discusses various published and unpublished versions of the script and their relation to the sketch’s infamous ‘appropriation’ in its first production as part of the revue Oh! Calcutta!, in an attempt to reconstruct three episodes of a media drama that unfolds in and around the play.